Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Sunday 28th October 2018. It’s Martyn Lee here and I’ve been through EV story today so you don’t have to.

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

TESLA ROLLS OUT NAVIGATE ON AUTOPILOT

“While Tesla’s Autopilot has so far been designed to keep the car on a set path, following the road and its curves, the company now offers a system for the car to boldly go on new routes.” reports Antti at Autoblog: “Tesla is rolling out Navigate on Autopilot, which it calls an active guidance feature. The system combines navigation and autopilot functions, and as a result, it now guides the car into the directions it gives. The car can take off-ramps, complete the lane changes it suggests, and choose the right highway interchange and exit. At first, the feature will require drivers to confirm suggested lane changes by using the turn stalk, but Tesla says future versions of the feature can function without user confirmation.”

I would add it’s for U.S. customers only and you have to own a Tesla with Enhanced Autopilot or Full Self-Driving Capability.

Tesla themselves said: “Today in the U.S., we’re beginning to roll out our most advanced Autopilot feature ever: Navigate on Autopilot. Since introducing Software Version 9.0, Tesla owners with Enhanced Autopilot have driven tens of millions of miles to support the validation of Navigate on Autopilot, allowing us to collect performance and safety data at scale, based on real-world driving.

While initially the feature will require drivers to confirm lane changes using the turn stalk before the car moves into an adjacent lane, future versions of Navigate on Autopilot will allow customers to waive the confirmation requirement if they choose to. In both of these scenarios, until truly driverless cars are validated and approved by regulators, drivers are responsible for and must remain in control of their car at all times.

Navigate on Autopilot is an active guidance feature for Enhanced Autopilot that, with driver supervision, guides a car from a highway’s on-ramp to off-ramp, including suggesting and making lane changes, navigating highway interchanges, and taking exits. It’s designed to make finding and following the most efficient path to your destination even easier on the highway when Autopilot is in use. While drivers should always be attentive when using Autopilot, stalk confirmation for lane changes allows us to ensure that drivers are paying attention at the exact moment they need to, and combined with the redundancy of eight external cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors, it provides an additional layer of safety that two eyes alone would not have.”

Mark Kane at InsideEVs has the scoop of another change in Model 3 Price but this is good news for those who haven’t bought their car yet: “The fully equipped Tesla Model 3 Performance becomes $5,000 cheaper as Tesla included the $5,000 Performance Upgrade package as standard equipment in its top-of-the-line version. The base price still starts at $64,000, but that’s a far more attractive price than the $69,000 previously after selecting the Performance Upgrade. It also means that all new Performance purchases will come with Track Mode.”

Tesla Model 3 Performance – Summary ($64,000 + $1,200 D&H):

Model 3 Performance Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive

Solid Black Paint

Performance Upgrade

20” Performance Wheels

Performance Brakes

Carbon Fiber Spoiler

Performance Pedals

All Black Premium Interior

VANDOORNE: FUTURE MERCEDES FORMULA E DRIVE A “TARGET”

“Stoffel Vandoorne says a 2019/20 Mercedes Formula E drive is a “target” for him to secure during his first season racing in the electric championship with the manufacturer’s HWA affiliate.” according to Alex at Motorsport.com: “HWA has entered FE as a customer Venturi outfit for season five, with Vandoorne also making his debut in the series after losing his McLaren Formula 1 drive. Mercedes will take HWA’s slot on the FE grid in season six and Vandoorne, who completed the first two days of 2018/19 pre-season testing at Valencia this week before leaving early to take part in this weekend’s US Grand Prix, said he wants to be a part of the team’s future evolution.”

BMW GROUP DINGOLFING FACTORY TO SUPPLY BATTERIES FOR MINI EV FROM 2019

“The BMW Group’s Dingolfing plant in Germany will supply the batteries for the all-electric MINI to be built in late 2019 in Oxford, South England. The batteries for the vehicle will come from the new battery production facility in Dingolfing; the electric motors from the neighboring BMW Group plant in Landshut.” says Green Car Congress: “The BMW Group’s Dingolfing plant is preparing for the higher demand for electric drives in the future and is investing in extensive conversion and expansion work for this purpose. For the battery production of the all-electric MINI alone, a medium, double-digit million euro amount is being applied to structural measures and plants. On an area of around 6,000 square meters, a production facility for battery modules and a battery assembly line will be built in the western part of the Dingolfing component plant 02.20. Currently, the first systems are being constructed and tested successively.”

SMART BRAND LIVES ON BORROWED TIME, A SUB-A-CLASS SMALL-STAR MERCEDES IS TAKING SHAPE

“Smart is in the process of going 100 percent electric, but this doesn’t mean that the marque has a future. Quite the contrary: according to various sources, Renault is going to pull out once the ForFour/Twingo reaches the end of its cycle, Mercedes is not interested in keeping the Smart car brand going all by itself, and whether Geely may want to jump in and lift the business case to a more profitable new level remains to be seen.” in this story by Atumobilmag.com: “The board needs to come to a conclusion by 2021 when it must sign off the next A-class generation due in 2025. “

And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…

If you could put a public charger anywhere, where would you put it?

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